September 5,
2011
When Bad is
Good: Creativity and the
Downturn
by Claire
Lieberman, Art Experience
NYCVol. I, No. 3, Summer
2011, pp. 25-35
https://www.artexperiencenyc.com/creativity-and-the-downturn-when-badis-good/
MONEY AND ART always
operate in a maze. Amidst
the hazy morass of arts
funding cuts and gallery
closings, I set out to see
how creativity is faring
amongst artists as the
current economic situation
endures. I thought about
the ways in which fiscal
circumstances are enmeshed
with other issues, ranging
from fractious political
exchanges, ongoing
cultural clashes, and of
course, military
conflicts. Given this
complex set of concerns, I
decided to focus on
artists’ responses. I
spoke with several artists
presently showing or
living in New York about
their experiences and
impressions. I
communicated with several
by email: Jen Dalton,
Teresita Fernandez, Susan
Graham,
Michelle Jaffé, David
Kramer, Ross Racine,
Regina Silveira, and spoke
with Terry Adkins and New
Yorker cartoonist David
Sipress by phone. Carol
Kino, New York Times art
critic, emailed some
thoughts as well. I asked
how the state of the
economy might shape
creative practice, perhaps
affecting themes,
materials, sources, size,
and approach, even venue
choices. I wondered if the
downturn might cause
artists to think about
their work differently and
if they noticed any trends
amongst their friends. I
found some surprising
answers.
So what’s new?
Is the downturn having an
impact on individual
creativity? What impulses,
desires emerge? Have any
trends appeared?
Asked if the
economy has affected his
work, Terry Adkins says:
“No, not really. My work
is steeped in mercurial
flu- idity and intuitively
adapts to adversity of any
sort. My world view
prompts the consideration
of how much more difficult
it is for others to
maintain their creative
edge amidst the extremely
devastating circumstances
of war and poverty.” We
spoke about how major
financial enti- ties exert
broad sway over economic
conditions (in the arts
and elsewhere) that are
intertwined with other
crises. Adkins states:
“The art industry is
fueled by the excess of
the gigantic.”
Ross Racine
comments: “During this
recession, the huge
difference between the
higher priced sector of
the art world and the rest
of the art market
parallels the huge
difference between the
financial sector in
general (doing very well)
and the rest of society
(doing not so good, to put
it mildly). There is a
total disconnect between
the financially well-off
sector of the art world,
resting on inflated
prices, and the rest of
the art world. They are
like two different
planets.”
Jen Dalton does
find the state of the
economy impacts her work,
but is aware of the same
effect in high rolling
instances. She articulates
some thoughts: “I’ve found
inspiration in the state
of the economy and our
culture’s response to it.
I’ve made some work
directly about it. Are
Times of Recession Good
for Art? is a work I made
that allows viewers to
vote on the question by
taking a chocolate coin
out of one of two gumball
machines. And fellow
artist William Powhida and
I collaborated on a set of
recession-themed greeting
cards called Our
Condolences, that use
gallows humor and
schadenfreude as coping
mechanisms. Though the
economic situation is much
worse than it was a few
years ago for those who
make and love art (not to
mention everyone else), as
an artist looking for
compelling subject matter,
it’s not entirely
different from the
inspiration I found in the
crazy boom times and all
the frenzy that surrounded
the rising prices.”
Teresita
Fernandez writes on the
scope of new works: “I’m
fortunate in that I always
have many projects going
on at once. Many serious
collectors, as well as
founda- tions, don’t want
to just buy from art
fairs, but rather seek
that special piece that’s
been made for a specific
context or site. I’m
selective about what I
do—the con- text has to be
somewhat inspiring, but
often these bigger
projects also come with
ambitious vision and
bigger budgets that allow
me to experiment and
realize large- scale
works. Interestingly
enough, while the economy
has gone through ups and
downs, the demand for
these more expensive
large-scale projects has
increased.”
David Kramer
notices a paradox, a sense
that what he visualizes is
being received
differently. He states:
“Back when the economy was
humming along and money
was being thrown around
all over the place, I
never seemed to make a
dime. So it wasn’t like I
had to suddenly reconsider
everything when it came to
my work. And the themes of
my work, which really also
have not changed, were
really about me feeling
sorry for myself. They
were about me trying to
understand how all of my
hard work and all of my
ideas about this American
Dream, all seemed to be
blowing up right in front
of me. Ironically, now I
am doing better than I had
ever done before. Now I
seem to be on a roll.
Maybe finally people are
beginning to understand
what it is that I was
talking about, as the
themes seem to now have so
much more relevance to
everyone.”
A probative
response comes into view
in Susan
Graham’s
latest projects. Graham
relates: “I have started
making much more involved,
ephemeral pieces that take
months to create and will
ultimately be destroyed. I
recently spent months
creating Toile Landscape.
Made of sugar, the piece
sort of accrued on my wall
over a year and a half. I
think I felt (before the
crash) like I needed to
con- sider permanence,
“sellability”, whether
something can be shipped.
The Toile Landscape piece
does not exist unless I am
there to install it, and
remake the bits that
inevitably are broken if
it is moved. I originally
started with ephemeral
works and the crash
brought me back to that.”
Regina Silveira,
who lives in São Paulo,
brings a global
perspective: “Financial
crises affecting the art
world are felt and spoken
about even more strongly
in Europe than in the
United States, while it
seems much lighter in
sever- al parts of Asia
and paradoxically in
emergent countries, like
Brazil, consistently
submerged into third world
econo- my afflictions.
Perhaps the natural state
of dealing with successive
crises made us experts in
finding creative
solutions. Artists of my
generation, beginning
careers in the 70’s, are
very used to strategies
that were then need- ed to
create and to make room
for alternative work, far
from the art market, and
to interact in the
artistic arena. The focus
was more political and
certainly much more into
the real functions of art.
I believe these functions
are magical, that art
magically intermediates
the experience of the
world. But time has
changed—art also–we
possibly need new
strategies. At this point
in my life and career, I
would like to think that I
made the right movements,
from the beginning taking
art as a poetical
investigation, and not
submitting to the art
market contingencies.”
Michelle Jaffé
cites a moderate influence
on the vision of her
practice: “Like 9/11, it
has not fundamentally
changed what I seek to do
with my work. The 2008
economic recession
immediately made me decide
to simplify a large scale
sculpture and& sound
installation I was, and
still am working on. I
decided it had to be more
agile, less physically
cumbersome, less
financially demanding,
with- out compromising the
integrity or ambition of
the vision for this work.”
And if it’s all
about the downturn, sound
out cartoonist David
Sipress. He remarks: “I
work for the New Yorker. I
always tend to focus on
issues, interests and
obsessions that are out in
the culture. I can’t think
of an issue that’s more on
people’s minds than the
economy, so I tend to make
a lot of cartoons about
that. I believe that all
humor, and my humor
specifically, is about
anxiety; what scares
people, what upsets them,
what worries them. This
approach is not unique to
me—think Woody Allen or
Roz Chast. So the economic
downturn has been a
terrific resource in terms
of coming up with ideas.
Everybody’s worried about
it and that’s what I like
to make work about. Above
all, when I’m searching
for ideas, I look in the
mirror. When my worries
match the worries that are
out there, that’s when
humor happens. People love
and need to laugh about
their worries.”
One can argue that adverse
economic circumstances
draw out, even enhance
creative possibilities. I
consulted critic Carol
Kino on the good/bad
question and the current
cli- mate in the art
world.
Kino responds:
“I don’t think the art
world has been as affected
by the downturn as some
other creative (and
non-creative) fields. In
fact I think it has
remained oddly insulated.
It’s as tough on lower-end
artists as it has always
been, maybe even tougher,
but on the higher end of
the spectrum, while I did
see a brief anxiety for a
while, this has mostly
passed. I have not seen
any gallery shows that I
can think of off-hand that
seem rep- resentative of
this trend. With museums,
the impact has been more
clear-cut. Among other
things it has resulted in
some very interesting
permanent collection
shows, which is great
under any circumstances
and should be inspiring
for artists, too. In my
opinion, a bad economy is
not always a bad thing for
art! I also think we had
way too many galleries in
New York before the
recession and it didn’t
hurt anyone to lose a few
(except the artists they
represented, of course).
I’d also be willing to bet
that their numbers are
back up again.”
She goes on to
say: “One of the things I
find most depressing about
the current art world is
just that it is rather
dull, and there are still
too many galleries. I
start- ed writing about
art in the early 1990’s,
at the bottom of what was
a terrible art market
recession. The art in gal-
leries back then wasn’t
great either. I would have
to spend all day tromping
around to find maybe one
good show. But there was
also much more interesting
alterna- tive stuff going
on. The impression I had
back then was that the
dealers who had stuck it
out in the art business
were totally committed to
it and just couldn’t do
some- thing else, so that
made for a lot of
intensity. Artists were
also more inclined to
organize shows themselves
because there just weren’t
the commercial rewards
avail- able to lure them
away.”
I am curious
about what effects these
times are generat- ing. In
previous downturns, there
were noticeable indica-
tors beyond galleries
closings that marked a
recession, i.e. smaller
work, expanding markets
for photography, more
multiples projects, and
the ascension of art
fairs, etc.
Michelle Jaffé
mentions that “many
artists are incorporat-
ing trash, objects to be
thrown out are instead
subsumed into their
artwork, as the components
and structure that makes
up their artwork, noting
this “is two-fold: not
hav- ing to pay for
materials, and also a
comment on con- sumer
society. Many artists are
creating ways to get out
there, to become known,
outside of traditional
channels of the gallery:
to create their own
opportunities, from tak-
ing the work directly to
the streets, to pop up
gallery spaces, driving
traffic to their web
sites, etc. They are more
proactive in every way to
get noticed.”
Jen Dalton sees
“a resurgence in
art-as-experience,
‘Relational Aesthetics’
type work that mobilizes
people and does not
necessarily manifest in
physical products. This
kind of work was going on
before the crash also, of
course, but it seems to be
increasingly widespread
and influential.”
Terry Adkins
observes “many have turned
to video and photography,
which have become viable
extensions of their work.”
Digital processes are a
sign of the times, as is
evidenced in Ross Racine’s
approach. He says: “The
weak economy has had no
effect on my materials or
working process. I still
create the images I want
to see with the tools I
need to use to create
them. I am also very lucky
not to need a studio, as
the medium of com- puter
drawing enables me to work
at home.” He sees “a
definite return to smaller
sizes. And also an
increased use of
inexpensive and found
materials,” but observes
“this trend was already
noticeable before the
recession (see the
“unmonumental” esthetic);
it just fits well with the
leaner times.”
Regina Silveira
sees new developments in
“the ways artists have
been expanding the locus
for their activities away
from the white cube now in
a much more expanded
arena, and more socially
motivated. Not only are
the infi- nite territory
of the Internet and
virtual spaces available
for poetical/political
interventions, but also
the urban ter- ritories
themselves; many times
these locations are trans-
national.”
So the squeeze
continues and some
concerns are amplified,
especially for artists
just starting out, but
there are many reasons how
and why creative activity
materializes. I set to out
see how the economy is
affecting artists’ work
and processes, but the
opposite is equally com-
pelling. I see instead the
way art performs, not as a
cur- ative force, but how
through humor, pensive
thought, argument and
innovative process, it
develops terrain in which
unrestrained exchanges of
creative interaction are
possible.
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